Wednesday, 16 May 2007

SAP, Microsoft Extend Alliance for Microsoft SQL Server 2005

SAP AG and Microsoft have revealed an agreement on a joint offering that will simplify and accelerate customer adoption of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and optimise it for the SAP Business Suite. The new offering will enable customers to easily transition to SQL Server 2005 and leverage the...

SAP AG and Microsoft have revealed an agreement on a joint offering that will simplify and accelerate customer adoption of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and optimise it for the SAP Business Suite.

The new offering will enable customers to easily transition to SQL Server 2005 and leverage the benefits of a flexible, enterprise Service-Oriented Architecture to transform their businesses. SAP and Microsoft have also agreed to set up a joint lab in Walldorf, Germany, to further optimise SAP Business Suite on SQL Server 2005. This announcement from SAP and Microsoft, in addition to the Duet software announcements made at SAPPHIRE Atlanta, highlights the companies’ continued commitment to deliver innovative solutions that benefit mutual customers.

“Microsoft and SAP have long shared a commitment to delivering value through our enterprise-class software and solutions,” said Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft. “The benefits of running SAP solutions on Microsoft SQL Server are clear, and with this joint offering enterprise customers will be able to even more efficiently deploy and operate their SAP environment on SQL Server 2005 while realising a lower total cost of ownership.”

For over 15 years, SAP and Microsoft have collaborated to co-innovate and empower their customers to better align their IT and business goals, starting with support of Microsoft SQL Server for SAP R/3 in 1995. An increasing number of SAP deployments run on Microsoft Windows and SQL Server, making it possible for SAP customers of all sizes to take advantage of the scalability and lower total cost of ownership of SQL Server. SAP and Microsoft will help companies consolidate their database and applications. This provides customers with a way to leverage existing expertise within their organisation, and benefit from the long-standing relationship between SAP and Microsoft to enhance business performance of their SAP and non-SAP applications. For customers moving to the next generation of SAP business solutions, this joint approach will offer database conversion tools, documented best practices and deployment services support to ensure a nondisruptive transition to enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA.)